GridPP as an organisation manages the UK’s involvement in CERN’s Large Hadron Collider Computing Grid project (LCG). GridPP is a collaboration of particle physicists and computing scientists from 19 UK universities, Science and Technology Facilities Council’s (STFC) Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL) and CERN. They have built a distributed computing Grid across the UK for particle physicists. Currently there is a working particle physics Grid across 17 UK institutions.
GridPP oversees a Tier 1 facility at RAL and the Tier 2 organisations of ScotGrid, NorthGrid, SouthGrid and London.
GridPP is also part of a larger, interdisciplinary project, called EGI – European Grid Initiative. Funded by the EU, EGI started in May 2010 with the aim of bringing together computing Grids from different countries and disciplines. It now covers areas from geology to computational chemistry, with 30,000 CPUS (central processing units) at over 200 sites in 39 countries. The GridPP grid is part of the EGI network, providing computing power to tasks beyond the high energy physics world.
Objective
To advise STFC on the GridPP project status in terms of technical progress, timescales, milestones, deliverables and use of funds.
Organisational structure
STFC manages the GridPP project through the GridPP Oversight Committee.
GridPP Oversight Committee membership and terms of reference
Chair
- Professor Jonathan Flynn – University of Southampton
Members
- Dr Mike Whalley – University of Durham
- Professor Martin Dove – University of Cambridge
- Dr Fabrizio Gagliardi – Microsoft
STFC
- Tony Medland – Head of Particle Physics and Nuclear Physics
- Malcolm Booy – Secretary
- Trish Mullins – eScience Programme Manager
Terms of Reference
- to monitor and comment on progress of the GridPP project taking particular account of milestones, budgets, management plans and work packages
- to receive and examine reports on progress and technical developments
- to receive and examine financial statements
- to review the project risk register, monitor risks and advise STFC as appropriate
- to identify issues pertinent to the success of the GridPP project and recommend appropriate high-level action
- to oversee convergence with the e-Science Core Programme
- to meet at least twice each year during the lifetime of the project
- to report, through the STFC e-Science Programme Manager, to the STFC Scientific Computing Advisory Panel on the progress of the project.
The GridPP project leader and other GridPP representatives will attend the Committee’s meetings.
Last updated: 31 March 2022